A new study has revealed that Tripadvisor was the most popular travel and tourism website across the UK in 2023.
SEO agency Digital Climax analysed annual web traffic data to find the UK’s most popular travel and tourism websites over the past year based on the total number of visits they received each month.
Using SEMrush, they compiled a list of the country’s twenty most visited travel and tourism websites and then used Ahrefs to find the estimated number of UK visitors throughout 2023. These results were then ranked to determine the most popular sites.
Tripadvisor ranked as the most popular travel and tourism website across the UK in 2023, with approximately 428 million total visits in the past year. It receives an average of 35.7 million monthly visits and was visited most in August when it received approximately 41.2 million website visits. Tripadvisor specialises in comparing travel websites to showcase the best deals and as a platform for user-generated reviews.
Booking.com came second with around 127.9 million total visits throughout 2023. It had the most visits in August last year, with around 12.6 million visits, and receives an average of 10.7 million visits monthly. Booking.com compares the prices of hotels, flights, transport, and attractions to highlight the best deals when planning a holiday.
TUI took third place with around 120.2 million visits in 2023. The travel agency website was most popular in January, with around 11.3 million visits, and receives an average of 2 million visits each month. TUI is known for its holidays, cruises, flights, and hotels across the world and owns multiple airlines, cruise lines, and hotel chains.
Trainline came fourth with around 116.2 million visits throughout 2023. It had the most hits in July last year, with 10.7 million visits, and receives an average of 9.7 million visits per month. Trainline specialises in selling train tickets and rail cards, alongside showing live train times and railway station information through its website and mobile app.
Skyscanner ranked fifth with approximately 86 million visits in 2023. It receives an average of 7.1 million monthly visits and was visited most in July when it received approximately 8.5 million website visits. Skyscanner allows users to research, compare and book travel options for their trips worldwide, including flights, hotels and car hire.
Other travel and tourism websites that made the top ten include Easyjet, Jet2holidays, British Airways, Expedia, and Loveholidays.
Axl Van Steenacker, SEO specialist and founder of Digital Climax, commented on the findings:
“The British public has always spent much time traveling for work or pleasure, whether staying in the country or heading abroad on holiday. According to the Office of National Statistics, UK residents spent around £58.5 billion and made 71 million visits abroad in 2022 after the easing of coronavirus (COVID-19) travel restrictions.
“Travel websites make it easier than ever to book transport ahead of time, or explore potential destinations, with sites like Tripadvisor and Booking.com covering all aspects of planning a trip. It will be interesting to see whether the rankings for different airlines and hotels stay the same or fluctuate from year to year as new data is released.”
